Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:2

If the attendees of the Al Smith dinner really cared about children's charities they could write a check without fanfare or the chance to be seen on TV. It's a largely secular and totally political ritual. Christopher Ferarra calls it an abomination. Should you wish to support the charities that receive money from the dinner you can contact them directly or use the Alfred Smith portal. You won't get to dress up and be seen with the cardinal and nobody will applaud you but God will know.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

A really, really annoying whine that I've been reading all year is that politics has somehow descended into a vulgar state never seen before and that things were better in the good old days. You don't have to be a former history major in college to know that this is NOT TRUE. When Jefferson and Adams were running for president people were told that Jefferson was an atheist, and an adulterer with the wives of his neighbors, an attempted seducer of his close friend's unwilling wife, a pagan, a man who sold his own slave children by his slave, Sally Hemmings, and that he was a danger to American women and the family. Saying that this was a rough campaign is an understatement. The enslaved concubine story was openly discussed by his enemies and quietly by his friends for the rest of his life and may have prevented him from speaking up in support of his son-in-law when the younger man proposed banning slavery from Virginia.

When Andrew Jackson ran for president the public was told that he was bigamist and that his wife, Rachel was a coarse pipe smoking backwoods harlot who would humiliate the country in front of European visitors to the White House. John Quincy Adams was accused of gambling (he bought a chess board and a pool table) and of giving his maid to the Tsar of Russia while he was a diplomat there. There were whispers that James Buchanan's fiancee did not die from illness but committed suicide because of something she learned about Buchanan. Lincoln was accused of being the son of a black man. In a time when having one drop of black blood could get you sold into slavery or if you were above the Mason Dixon line, cast out from your job, marriage and social connections, this was seriously vicious talk. He was also called an ape, a liar and a dog. Poor tortured Mary Todd Lincoln was accused of being a spy for the South. She was criticized when she entertained ambassadors during war time and paradoxically she was criticized for not doing anything social after the death of her youngest son and causing Washington to be no fun although the war was still going on. Andrew Johnson was accused of being an alcoholic.

Grover Cleveland was accused of having an illegitimate child and his opponents came up with the famous chant, "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" Cleveland's supporters responded with, "Gone to the White House. Ha, ha, ha!" Woodrow Wilson was said to have been an adulterer during his university professor days. It was also said that he and his second wife were fornicating before the marriage. Enemies of Warren G. Harding whispered that he had black ancestry. That claim hung around for many decades and has only been disproved this year with DNA testing.

There were people who tried to fear monger in Protestant USA by stating that Kennedy was going to a devout Catholic. Boy were they wrong! Poor Hubert Humphrey was accused by the Kennedy campaign of being a draft dodger. In truth Humphrey did try to enlist for World War II more than once but was turned down because he had a double hernia, calcified lungs and was color blind. Does any of this seem nicer than what we've seen and read in recent years?

In this incredibly moving painting Our Lord has just descended into Hell and speaks to His creatures and parents, Adam and Eve and tells them that it is alright now. He has smashed the chains they forged they are free to come be with Him forever.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Some people say--- well a lot of people are saying it but only a few dare publish it--- that we should calm down because Pope Francis is only going to live so long. When he dies everything will be okay. That is nonsense. The cardinals and the bishops he chooses live on and they can drive good priests out and put compliant priests in. Your children will be living with the Francis decisions long after he goes to his destiny. You see this in families all the time. A grandfather was a drunkard and his kids reacted to it. His grandchildren are raised according to the reaction. An ecclesiastical example is Cardinal Bernadin. He's has been dead for years but his proteges are still out there and still in charge.The last few weeks of One Peter Five haven't held my attention but Hilary White's piece on the revival of an old idea that could serve the Church in these bad days is luminescent.Is anybody over the age of six really surprised about the latest Wikileaks? Outside forces have attempted with varying degrees of success to interfere with the Church from the very beginning and you know what? It won't matter. Most Catholics vote the way we do for reasons of habit and loyalty to our tribe. Many of us are unthinkingly like the woman in the song, "My Man." I mean the early Fanny Brice version, not the sanitized Streisand one. The protagonist sings that her man isn't good, cheats and occasionally beats her but fatalistically asks, "What can I do? I love him." She knows and more importantly, he knows that she's not going anywhere.John Zmirak has a new book out. According to a review in Crisis magazine:

This group of folks can be quite annoying because they dominate comment boxes with their pet theories no matter what the subject of conversation is. Zmirak is correct that they seem to hate everything and they are for their level of education often unemployed or underemployed. There are only so many Catholic college jobs, or Catholic media jobs to go around and those who refuse to join the rat race or work for a worldly corporation are going to have a hard row to hoe. Most of this group seem proud to be living in genteel poverty and condemn anybody who has a new car (never mind that the old car was 20 years old and falling apart) or who goes on vacation as unholy worldlings. Unlike Zmirak I've only come across one person who said she was on welfare. Several of her readers were incensed and criticized her mightily in the comment boxes. I didn't write in but I stopped reading her blog. I'm not going to buy John Zmrak's book because it sounds like it's just a rehash of his essays that I can read for free and I think it's funny that the review appeared in Crisis at all, because quite a few of its readers are the kind of folks Zmirak delights in skewering, but Zmirak fans will like it.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Sunday, October 09, 2016

After Mass a person approached our pastor and complained about the noisy kids and babies. I wanted to ask "What do you want Fr. to do? Should he stop Mass and offer to spank them all?" Some of the things people ask priests are really unreasonable. Normal human beings are simply hard wired to notice to the sounds babies make. I can hear a baby coo in a noisy room or at work. I ignore anger cries but if it is the distinct fear cry I will go and peep to see what's wrong. Yes, the little kid banging his metal truck on the pew can be maddening. The big kid playing video games is obnoxious and hapless the man who who keeps getting up and down with his little one, dragging toys, blankets and sippy cups behind him while stepping all over you is enough to make you want to say something spicy and uncharitable but here are things you can do to minimize the noisy tot problem. You can ignore it and offer it up. A friend of Rocky's uses ear plugs at Mass, others simply avoid the Family Mass. There are others who concentrate on the missal and throw themselves so deeply into prayer that they hear nothing. I have been known to switch pews. You wouldn't dare go up to a woman and tell her to "Shut that kid up," so why demand that poor Father do so?

*Note to young parents: the people frowning at you at church are not necessarily annoyed by you and your offspring. They heard a panic cry and are instinctively reacting to it.

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

I recently read The Book of Feasts and Seasons and I hated it. I wanted to like it because the author, John C. Wright is Catholic, a very erudite man and he caught a lot of flak when he converted. The book is a collection of short stories each inspired by different holidays. It is beautifully written and he means well but it struck me as blasphemous on occasion. The best story in the book is about a mad scientist who is mourning his dead wife. He jumps into his time machine and goes back to Bethlehem in time to see a mass crucifixion, get roughed up by a suspicious Roman soldier, talk to a Passover lamb and finally run into St. Joseph who calmly realizes that this stranger is just another person who needs to see the Baby Jesus. When he meets the Holy Family he ends up explaining to Mary what the sign of the cross will eventually mean the the future followers of her Son. Again, this story meant well but if we still had an Index of Forbidden Books it would probably be listed there for the twisting of the gospels alone.

So, the Loverde era in the Arlington diocese is coming to an end. I never cared much for Bishop Loverde but I was concerned that after his retirement we would get someone really terrible. According to Rorate Caeli, while Bishop Michael Burbidge may not be Prince Charming, he's no cave troll either and that is a relief.

In your charity could you pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Daniel Mudd? He was once a parochial vicar at my childhood parish and we all loved him.

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky celebrated Mass in a barn near the stall of the famous racing horse, American Pharaoh. Ostensibly this Mass was supposed to be about Bishop John Manz's pastoral visit to farm workers but the gushing article is really about meeting the stallion. Some dear person is probably saying, "But Dymphna, Our Lord was born in a stable. Isn't this sweet?" No, it's not sweet. This was a cutesy stunt and I have some questions: Do you honestly believe that the Catholic family that owns the stud farm doesn't allow their workers off the property? Is it common knowledge that farmhands are not allowed to set foot in town or inside the local mission or church? Did the bishops say Mass at every farm they visited or was it just this one that houses one of the greatest race horses to ever live?
The bishops could have toured the barn and visited American Pharaoh without having Mass there. They could have celebrated in a tent outside or in the bunk house. They could have celebrated Mass at the home of the farm owners and invited the farmhands inside. Cute stunts like this disgusted untold numbers of people over the last 50 years and many of them left the Church for good.

"Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them.”